S*x and Secrets: Alpha Billionaire Forbidden Romance (5 page)

“Gimme that coffee,” I said, holding out my hand. “I need a caffeine injection this morning.”

“Bad night?” She raised an eyebrow and waited for my answer.

Hailey knew everything about my working life. Everything. Some parts even better than I knew myself. But my private life was totally off-limits. Sometimes I was tempted to share with her, to tell her about the amazing sex or something cute Levi had said or done, like most girls liked to do. Only I wasn’t most girls, and I always stopped short of telling her about Levi and me. The less she knew, the less likely she was to lose her job because of keeping my secret.

Because sure as hell heads would roll if my secret about Levi ever got out. Neither Bernard Drake nor his two sons got where they were by having mercy on anyone who they’d thought betrayed their trust.

“Thought you should know that Daddy Drake has scheduled you in for a meeting with Barrington-Essex today. It’s at one P.M. in the boardroom.”

“Shit. I don’t have time for that today. I’ve got another meeting before lunch and there’s also those documents I need to work on, remember? There’s a million things to do.”

The way she grinned from ear to ear told me there was more to this. It was the mischievous glint in her eyes that made me curious.

“What?” I said, keeping a straight face. When Hailey had that look on her face she was usually up to something or had information on somebody she’d heard via the grapevine that she was dying to share.

“The gorgeous Levi Barrington just confirmed that he will be attending too. And that’s why I’ll be the one serving a light lunch and drinks, just to get a glimpse of the man.” She licked her lips. “God, he’s so fuckable. I can’t believe you think he’s a pain in the ass and aren’t attracted to him.”

Hailey has no idea.

I sat back in my chair and took a sip of my coffee before answering.

“What makes Levi Barrington so special? He’s just like any other man.” I kept my voice even and calm although I was curious to hear her reply.

Hailey wrinkled her cute button nose. “There’s something wrong with you, Montana, because I’ve noticed the way he sometimes stares at you when you aren’t watching, and he’s definitely interested in you. I don’t understand why you treat him like he’s the mailman.”

I shrugged then studied the nails on my left hand, making a mental note to get a manicure later that week, before I took another sip of my coffee and smacked my lips together. “He’s the enemy, remember?”

Hailey frowned. “That doesn’t change the fact that he’s hot. While every woman within a hundred yards is swooning, you ignore him.”

My cheeks grew hot and I bit into my lower lip. “Levi watches me when I’m not looking?”

She nodded, her eyes twinkling.

Good Lord, that was such a turn-on yet it was dangerous too, because if Hailey noticed, so could anyone else. I suppressed a smile. Secretly I loved that he couldn’t keep his eyes off me.

I cleared my throat. “I don’t do relationships. And Levi would get me into serious trouble; you know that,” I said in my business-like tone while shuffling a stack of perfectly neat papers on my desk. This conversation needed to end fast or else she’d carry on gushing for the next ten minutes. Minutes I didn’t have to burn, and neither did she.

“Anyway, let’s get back to work. There isn’t time to keep talking about men, no matter how hot they are.”

“So you
are
admitting he’s hot?” Hailey raised an eyebrow, testing me.

“Oh yeah, Levi Barrington is hot as sin. There’s no denying that.”

Hell, wasn’t that the truth.
If only Hailey knew, it would wipe that awestruck grin off her pretty face.

U
sually I hated going to meetings with my old man. I didn’t see the point of talking ad nauseam about matters that could easily be handled with an email. But my father was old school and still believed that face-to-face meetings far outweighed other communications and he assured me that this one was important and not to be missed. As soon as I heard that the lovely Miss Marx would also be attending, my interest to be there grew and I had a sudden urge to see her.

I told him I’d meet him there as he was having a private discussion with Mr. Drake senior before the general meeting began.

Lately I’d found myself thinking about Montana at random times during the day or replaying something that happened between us before going off to sleep.

There was no doubt that Montana had crept under my skin and increasingly I wished that I could see her more often than our scheduled three nights a week. I’d been so damn close to telling her that I missed her when I saw her last time, but luckily I’d stopped myself just in time.

Montana hated shows of affection. She was there for the sex and the sex only, and had made that abundantly clear.

How ironic.
I was aware that I could just about have any woman I wanted, yet I wanted the one who wasn’t interested in a full-blown relationship, my money, my title, or anything else I owned. Except for my dick. Montana loved The Monster.

I’d arrived fifteen minutes early for the meeting to scope out the offices of our competitors. It wasn’t often we had a meeting in the proverbial lion’s den and I wasn’t missing a chance to pick up anything that could possibly give me an upper hand during negotiations. I liked to look for small clues, things that most people missed but were invaluable when used to my advantage.

Usually there were clues everywhere about the culture of a company and with a trained eye I quickly picked up on things that were important as well as those things they didn’t care about.

Escorted by the lovely young receptionist, presumably so that I didn’t deviate from the path or snoop where I shouldn’t, I’d been shown directly to the boardroom and told to wait there. I thanked her with a smile and dug my hand into my pockets as I calmly sauntered into the large room that overlooked the Hudson River.

Taking a seat on the window ledge, I stared out over the sprawling city. The people on the streets looked like ants, and the constant honking of horns was blocked by the double-glazed windows, so for a moment I felt completely alone in the silence.

The clicking of heels on tiles alerted me to a female approaching. I held my breath for a moment, hoping to see Montana. I tried to hide my disappointment when a curvy brunette entered the room instead with a large tray of food. Her eyes widened when she noticed me, and then a generous smile crossed her face.

“Mr. Barrington, you’re early,” she said in a cheerful voice.

“Hello.” I jumped up and took the tray from her. “You’re Hailey, right? Where do you want this?”

“Yes, that’s right. You have a great memory.”  She pointed to the dark mahogany table on the other side of the room. “Put that on the side buffet, please.”

I followed her to the other side of the room, placed the tray down and turned back to her. She was busy arranging napkins into a silver container.

“I hate being late,” I said, pushing my jacket sleeve back to look at my watch. “Everyone should’ve been here already so we can start at one P.M. sharp.”

“Oh, I agree, I wonder where everyone else is? Miss Marx just had to make a stop on her way. She’s never late either.”

I watched as she poured iced water into the dozen glasses on the table. She looked up at me between each glass, smiling and fluttering her eyelashes. I was used to that kind of reaction from women, yet I still was flattered when they went into full flirt mode. Usually I wasn’t interested in taking it further, so I just smiled and made casual small talk, pretending I wasn’t aware of their interest. But flirting back with this one could help me get closer to Montana.

“So you’re Miss Marx’s personal assistant?”

“Yeah. For two years now,” she said with pride in her voice.

“Sounds like she’s great to work with,” I fished.

“Oh, I’ve had many bosses over the years, but nobody comes close to Miss Marx’s work ethic. Sometimes I worry she’ll burn herself out, she works that hard. It’s tough making it in a predominantly male industry, and she has more balls than some men I know,” she said with a wink.

I laughed. I’d never thought of it like that, but it was true. Montana had a natural instinct to go for the jugular and fight for what she wanted. She was born for this . . . and fucking, of course. But I couldn’t tell the cute brunette that.

Slowly, the boardroom filled with people. I smiled to myself as I observed how the older people carried notebooks while the younger generation had brought their laptops. I greeted the people I knew and nodded at the few I hadn’t met before. Automatically, they formed two groups, sitting on opposite sides of the table depending on which company they represented.

At five minutes to one, both my father and Bernard Drake arrived, deep in conversation. They’d been business rivals for over a decade, and Dad believed in keeping his enemies close. He was doing a good job with Mr. Drake.

I glimpsed at my watch. Still no Montana. I’d be annoyed as fuck if she didn’t turn up, because I’d given up my afternoon game of golf with potential investors to be there.

Three minutes to one.

Bernard Drake looked at his wristwatch and frowned. The old man had a reputation for not tolerating tardiness and two seats were still unoccupied.

His face lightened up as he looked toward the doorway, so I followed his gaze. Montana had arrived, but she wasn’t alone. The tall and very single Beckham Drake held her elbow as he steered her towards her chair. Her cheeks were flushed, and he stared at her with puppy-dog eyes.

Fuck me. Was there something between
my
Montana and her boss’s eldest son?

My stomach churned and made a gurgling noise, which I tried to hide with a cough. It wasn’t because I was hungry.

Montana’s gaze met mine briefly, but she quickly cast her eyes down and laughed softly at something Drake Junior had whispered in her ear. My neck grew hot and my shirt collar strangled me; I roughly pulled at it with my index finger so I could breathe.

“Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Thank you for attending this meeting at such short notice. A huge opportunity has come up that may benefit both our companies, and I’d like to present my ideas for further discussion.” While nodding toward my father and his son, Bernard Drake continued, “Only a handful of you know anything about it, and I’m trusting everyone here today to keep this under wraps or it could blow up in our faces.”

The old man had everyone sitting on the edges of their seats. He looked toward his son with a wide grin and puffed his chest out with pride.

“Beckham discovered that a very large Chinese company, with the support of their government, is making a bid to take over one of our largest telephone companies in the USA. I don’t need to tell any of you what a disaster that would be for our economy. Thousands of jobs would be lost as they replaced American workers with their own people, but more than that, it would be in direct conflict with our independence, and we can’t allow a business that works daily with sensitive information to fall into the hands of another country and breech our security.” He paused for a moment and nodded toward his son.

Beckham Drake flashed Montana a smile before pushing to his feet. She stared up at him with admiration in her wide eyes, and for a split second, a pang speared my heart at the obvious intimacy between them. There was no doubt in my mind that they were close. Montana’s gaze was fixed on his broad back as he walked to the head of the table to join the two older men.

The young Drake sounded very self-assured as he addressed the group. “It was only by chance and because of my influential connections that I discovered this information, and of course the tel-co involved denies it emphatically, but we all know that money talks and if the price is right, they’ll sell to the highest bidder.”

My father took his turn to speak. He turned to the young man and patted his shoulder, as if he were some kind of hero. “Well done, Beckham. This could be a disaster if left unchallenged. Slowly, foreign companies are vying to take over traditionally American organizations and if we don’t stop this infiltration, soon our economy will be owned by outsiders who certainly don’t have our best interests at heart as a nation. Business is business, but our loyalty to the USA always comes first. Drake and Sons did the right thing by inviting us to work with your company to go to war on this takeover.”

Adrenaline spiked my bloodstream. This was what I breathed for. The tougher the challenge, the more I enjoyed it.

“Mr. Barrington Senior and I have come to an agreement earlier this morning before the meeting to work together on this. Individually our companies are strong enough to take on the Chinese giants, but if we work together we’ll annihilate them.” He paused for the news to sink in. “But let me warn you. This doesn’t mean that we aren’t still rivals on every other level of business. Although you are expected to work together on this joint venture, that’s where it ends. You’ll need to keep the integrity of our individual companies intact. Is that understood?” The old man’s glare was aimed directly at me. What the fuck?

“Montana, Levi, please join us up front,” Bernard Drake said.

I pushed to my feet and walked around to where Montana sat to pull her chair out. Just as I touched the backrest, she turned her head toward me.

“Mr. Barrington, if we’re going to be working together, please don’t patronize me. I may be the only woman at the table, but I expect to be treated the same as any man. I’m perfectly capable of handling my own chair, thank you.”

She scraped back her chair and nearly knocked my wind out. Was Montana pissed off at me? She’d avoided my gaze completely and now she was acting as if she hardly knew me. On some level we had to keep our distance so nobody found out about our arrangement, but this was taking it a step too far.

“Suit yourself,” I said, and walked ahead of her to join the other men up front. It was something I’d never do—walking in front of a lady—but if Montana wanted to be treated like a man, I’d indulge her wishes.

To be perfectly honest, I had my own agenda getting up there before her. I went to stand beside Beckham, forcing her to stand somewhere else and not next to the man who was clearly besotted by her.